Cutting out added sugars
As most people who train will know, the need for a hit of energy from a source of carbohydrates or sugars is essential for you at times to feel re-energised and ready to attack your day or your training regime if you’re feeling a little tired or sluggish. The injection of a sugar spike either from a loaded source or some sugar from carbohydrates you’ve taken can really help you to advance your daily goals and provide your body with the needed rush of energy either for a short period or for a longer time if needed.
But what if you want to cut this extra source of energy from your diet at any time? How would you go about it and what effects could it have on your body at the time? We’ll take a look at how you would go about cutting added sugar from your diet if you are thinking of going with a zero count in your daily diet.
What sugars do I cut?
We need to see sugars as being produced from the carbohydrates you may intake during a normal day’s meal activity. We have both processed and unrefined levels of sugar in this group.
Processed – fruit, vegetables, juice and grains
These items are naturally producing high sugar levels and are not processed.
Unrefined – white bread, candy, cookies, soda
These are stripped of their natural properties and are essentially empty calories.
The unrefined items on this list and similar products that you can guess go along with these are the kind you need to think about seriously cutting out of your diet to stop your intake of added sugar and become healthier. Cutting out empty calories should be an obvious thing for most people when they consider dieting and changing their lifestyle. The unrefined food groups you find readily available really hold no promise for your body and offer you little or no nutritional value when you eat them regularly.
What sugar can I eat?
The natural sources of sugar are your friend and shouldn’t be avoided as they will still contain the essential nutrients and vitamins for your body to function correctly at all times. You can’t ignore the vitamins and minerals that they supply to your body and nor should you intentionally shun these as they are going to be easily processed by your bodily functions and you’ll get what you need from them. You can still intake fruits and vegetables and enjoy the naturally occurring sugars from things like potatoes and rice and pastas. The idea is to make sure that these are the only types of sugar present in your system and you’re not looking for the unrefined fix to keep your energy levels up or to give your sweet tooth a kick.
What about my supplements?
Using supplementation with your training can become tricky with some suppliers of proteins and diet shakes offering all the good attributes but with hidden or surprise amounts of added or unwanted sugars. This makes your daily intake difficult to avoid any unrefined sugars on a daily basis. Keep an eye on your labels and research what you’re actually drinking in before you buy or ultimately add to your diet.
BioTechUSA already provides many almost sugar free supplements and have some of the best examples of ‘clean’ proteins and meal replacements on the market. Items such as their Zero Bar are produced with you in mind as it contains very low levels of sugar alongside a high quality influx of 22g of protein and is aimed at adding to your muscle production and not your waist size or your health issues with unwanted unrefined sugars.
The quality of life you will have and the training benefits of a non-unrefined sugar diet will be evident after only a few days of trying it out. You’ll feel sharper, less dependant on a quick sugary fix to make it through a day and you’ll notice the benefits to your body inside and out in no time.
Focus on gaining that needed hit of energy from naturally occurring sugars in healthy and natural sources and stick to avoiding any man-made added sugars to really feel the benefit. Nobody needs empty calories in their life and nobody trying to get fit or change their lifestyle should be dependent on sugar high snacks. Think logically about what you’re putting into your body and swap out the bad items for ones you can trust and can always eat knowing that your body is getting the nutritional benefits from.